A new marine trade centre is in development in Scotland as a lease is secured for the expansion of James Watt Marina on the River Clyde at Greenock.

The lease covers six hectares of land and water at the Great Harbour site, which will see the development of the comprehensive marine trade centre with commercial marine services firm, Serco, confirmed as an anchor tenant. Serco will provide towage and passenger transfer from the site, with the lease providing for its dedicated use of the extensive deep water berthing and the west jetty.

Marine consultancy, Marina Projects Ltd provided support in the negotiations with Serco as well as establishing a site wide masterplan and business case for the wider marine trade centre proposals, which took Serco’s current operations into account. The masterplan also covers the remainder of the berthing, commercial property, boat lifting and storage operations.

Serco provides maritime services to the defence sector, operating circa 100 vessels from five sites around the UK. Serco has been operating out of Great Harbour in various capacities for over 25 years.

“We are delighted to be able to continue to provide exceptional service to our customers from such an important and historic location on the Clyde as Great Harbour and we look forward to continuing our excellent relationship with James Watt Marina over the course of our tenure,” says Guy Baker, Serco’s maritime services contract director.

Marina Projects’ operations director, Dan McKiernan, comments: “It has been a pleasure working with the Serco team and being able to support their ongoing activities was a key aspect of our masterplan proposals.  Having this anchor tenant in place provides real clarity on the future development and operation of the Great Harbour site and we are excited to provide our continued support to the delivery of the masterplan.”

In April (2023), Marina Projects expanded its team with four new appointments, and last month (July 2023) it announced Simon Goodhead will be joining the board as commercial director.

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